As golfers have searched vainly for the perfect golf swing over the last 150 years in the history of this game, teachers and engineers have sought and designed teaching aids that hopefully will improve the golfer's swing to hit the ball more consistently and further.
One such tool is a golf swing training system shown in the Ballard, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,885. The Ballard system includes a shoulder guiding device 122, 130, and 135 and a hip saddle 112 that straps around the pupil's hip area. The thrust of the Ballard system is the provision of a lateral slide 90 on the base that permits the belt and the golfer's hips to slide from two to six inches during the back swing, the down swing, and follow through. The slide 90 has a pair of rollers 87 and 88 that ride on a linear rail 61 that is parallel to the target line. Pivotal movement of the saddle is accommodated by a shaft 57 that permits the saddle to pivot about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the target line to accommodate the player's tendency to raise one hip relative to the other. The sliding carriage is pivotally mounted on the base about a horizontal axis shown in FIG. 5, parallel to the target line and biased by a spring 51 that appears to accommodate the downward movement of the hips during the golf swing.
The slide 90 carries a first pivot 94, as seen in FIG. 9, upon which a link 99 is pivotal having another pivot 93 at its distal end to which the hip saddle 91 is connected. At the address position illustrated in FIG. 15, the slide 90 is positioned centrally on the rail 61 by springs 84 and 85, hip saddle 91 faces the ball, and the pivoting link 99 is parallel to the target line. During the back swing as depicted in FIG. 16, the slide 90 slides linearly away from the target compressing spring 84, and the belt pivots 45 degrees about the pivot 94, causing the user's spine to shift backwardly a substantial distance rearwardly from the ball.
During the down swing, the belt pivot 93 and the slide 90 slide toward the target back to substantially the address position described above. Thereafter, during the follow through, the link 99 rotates counter-clockwise from its address position and actually throws the golfer toward the golf ball a substantial distance during the follow through. At the same time, the slide 90 compresses spring 85, causing a substantial lateral shift of the hips during the follow through compressing spring 85, as depicted in FIG. 17.
The lateral shifting of the saddle in the Ballard system during both the back swing and the down swing is not believed by most teaching professionals to be an appropriate teaching methodology.
The Remington, U.S. Pat. No. 1,530,519, shows a golf training apparatus designed to prevent any vertical or upward motion during golf swing. The golfer is restricted to pivoting his body around the fixed axis.
The Hara, U.S. Pat. No. 2,611,610, shows a mechanical system that holds the shoulders, hips and feet in position during the swing.
Another Hara, U.S. Pat. No. 2,755,091, shows a teaching device that restricts the golfer's hip movement to rotary motion about a single axis, as does the device shown in the Abel, U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,571.
The Sheldon, U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,438, shows a hip training device for golfers that gives a warning signal when hip rotation departs from a single axis.
The Anselmo, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,909, has similar deficiencies to the Sheldon system.
The Jenks, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,626,151, and 2,737,432, show golf training systems which coordinate body movement with some lateral movement of the hips.
The following patents also show swing training devices:
______________________________________ Inventor U.S. Pat. No. Issue Date ______________________________________ Strong 4,691,924 9-8-87 Bambrick 1,854,392 4-19-32 Boldt 3,415,523 2-10-68 Oppenheimer 3,876,212 4-8-75 Morris 3,895,366 7-15-75 Oppenheimer 3,917,281 11-4-75 Oppenheimer 4,034,991 7-12-77 Beckish 4,071,251 1-31-78 Oppenheimer 4,211,418 7-8-80 Kiehl 4,326,718 4-27-82 Vuick 4,659,084 4-21-87 ______________________________________
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted in the above prior art and to provide a swing training system that is not overly restrictive and one which discourages excessive hip sway.